Upon scheduled inspection of the 2 Ton Hitachi Window AC installed at my residence, on 26/03/2014, I was advised by Hitachi Authorised Service to go in for recharging of gas in the Unit. I was told that the Unit will have to be taken to the workshop for the purpose and will take around a week. I was also told that the Company guarantees a performance of Unit for three months(against gas leakage) once the gas refill is done. The Company thereafter took the Unit to workshop, did re-fill of gas and supposedly also did testing of the same at workshop before re-installing the machine on 01/04/2014. I was charged a sum of Rs.3750/- towards this by HHLI. On 25/04/2014 when the Air-Conditioner was switched on for the first time, the machine did not work for even 2 hours and let out a hissing sound and stopped cooling altogether. The compressor of machine meanwhile will not shut down. A complaint was lodged on 26/04/2014 to this effect and the attending technician on 27/04/2014 said that the capacitor of machine has given away. On 01/05/2014 the technician appeared with a new capacitor only to discover that the compressor of the machine was not good enough and that a change of capacitor would not help. The machine therefore, could not work for even two hours, despite a gas charging and testing of machine by Hitachi, which set me back by Rs 3750/- . I allege that the HHLI Service centre showed callousness and utter professional negligence in not diagnosing the health of machine properly, while repairing the machine in as much as doing gas re-charging on a machine whose compressor itself was not in a good health to perform any longer. When the machine is entrusted to OEM Authorised service then it is expected of the Company to undertake proper professional assessment of the machine and its health and undertake expensive repairs only if the Unit as a whole is capable of performing. The Authorised Hitachi Service makes a customer pay through the nose but quality of such service is not befitting the repute of the Hitachi brand. It was their professional duty, above all, to assess the health of the compressor of the machine before doing a gas re-fill. I was therefore, kept in dark and put to unnecessary and deliberate loss by HITACHI by such negligent attitude towards service and repair.
As a result of this callous approach of Hitachi I was left with no other choice than to go in for a new Air-Conditioner on after disposing of the machine and was therefore, put to unnecessary financial burden despite spending huge money on repair of my old AC. All the relevant testimonials were sent to the Company and vide my letters dated 12/05/2014 and 27/05/2014 I have requested the Head-Customer care at Delhi and Ahmedabad viz. Sh. Sandeep Gupta and Sh. Atul Chaudhary to take a note of this event and refund Rs.3750/- to me. All such communication besides a number of e-mails have fallen on deaf ears in the Company. It is pity to note that such big brands can behave in such a petty manner with customer and have no concern about their goodwill. All communication copy is available with me.
It is necessary to expose the incompetent service back-end of Hitachi and make their Principals realise that a good product happens to be in wrong hands. It is indeed petty when such Companies fleece and cheat customers and make them pay for bad and unethical practices in the name of Service. Had the amount involved been higher I would have definitely considered and taken these people to Consumer Court.
On 5 April 2015: After persistent follow-up with their Top Management the Company yielded and decided in October 2014 to refund Rs 3500/- The money has since been received in October 2014 itself and matter treated as closed. I just wish that Companies could become a tad more sensitive towards customer service.
